Friday, October 26, 2012

QR codes
or Quick Response codes have been in use since 1994 when they were first
developed. Now, Nielsen has revealed that 31 percent of mobile users have a
smartphone that can read QR codes and that this number is
continuously growing. In fact, based on market estimates, this percentage is
expected to grow by a third over the next two years.

The
market has responded eagerly to this development. The ability to push quite a
lot of information – any kind of information, in fact - by adding a small,
simple code that is basically free to generate is like a Pandora’s box of
benefits to marketers. You can now incorporate this outside the box just like a label. Once the box passes through the taping machine, these codes will eventually be visible to the eyes of the consumer. This will create a lot of open doors for marketing.

In other
words, it’s too good a technology to pass up. As a business, you should start
creating QR codes of your own, and one of the best places to put them on is
your product packaging.

How Creative Can You Get?

The best
thing with these codes is that they are highly versatile, thus allowing
marketers to use them flexibly. The possibilities are just endless, and you can
match them even with your most specific marketing needs. So if you’re thinking
of using QR codes in your product packaging, don’t just use them to give your
customers a link to your website. Although effective and useful, this is
actually the most old-fashioned way of using these codes.

Here are
some more creative suggestions to help you get started.

Use QR codes to store discounts,
freebies, and prizes as a way of giving back to customers who support your
products.

Use QR codes to give your
customers directions to your stores or to your service centers.

How the Big Brands Are Doing It

Before QR
codes found their way to the market, the story all began in Japan. These small
but powerful codes were developed by Denso-Wave, a Japanese automotive
components manufacturer, who used it for distribution purposes.

The rest
of Japan, however, quickly caught on, and before long, marketers were showing
the codes on TV to allow viewers to link to company websites. Soon, McDonald’s
in Japan began putting the nutritional information of their bestselling burgers
in QR codes.

Eventually,
renowned company Marks & Spencer adopted the technology in the UK. M&S
was more creative; they placed the codes on their juice packaging and filled it
with jokes and other information about their products.

Since
then, a lot of other companies have taken up the technology, with Pepsi even
launching an entire ad campaign to publicize the appearance of QR codes on its
Pepsi Max packs. In Pepsi’s case, the QR codes contained video clips and free
mobile games.

Some Last-Minute Reminders

Before
you start printing QR codes in your product packaging, beware of these
pitfalls:

Linking to websites that are not
mobile optimized. Most consumers scan QR codes with their mobile phones and
access the content directly on the same device. If your code is linked to a
website that is not optimized for mobile viewing, it will just frustrate your
customers.

Using codes that are only readable
by certain devices. Many QR codes these days can only be scanned by iPhones or
BlackBerry devices. Unfortunately, the Android and Windows smartphone markets
are also growing, so make sure to create a more versatile code if you don’t
want to make your customers feel alienated.

This
smart guide to using QR codes in your product packaging is enough to get you
started. As you go along, you’ll certainly learn how to be more flexible and
creative with these codes.